This is the third video of the series"The Beauty Of Finnmark Norway " Some minor fault with my GoPro creates some flicker in the video when the sun hits the propellers. Hope to fix it with a better version.
Historic fishing village:
Gamvik is situated in the far northeast of the Nordkyn Peninsula, Europe's most northerly mainland. Since the Middle Ages, Gamvik has been one of the most important fishing villages out towards the Arctic Ocean. However, since the Second World War, the village has lost ground to Mehamn and Kjøllefjord due to its relatively narrow harbour. Today, peace and quiet has returned to this fishing village of 180 inhabitants.
Coastal heritage in the far north:
From the Late Middle Ages, more and more Norwegians moved to the Finnmark coast. They fished for cod in the spring, dried it and transported it to Bergen. In Europe, there was a high level of demand for high-protein dry fish, particularly during Lent. As the fishermen had small boats that they could haul up onto dry land, the population was spread across many small communities in the outlying areas of the coast. Gamvik Museum has displays of fishing equipment, as well as the simple cattle farming, home crafts and maritime Sami culture on the outer coast and further inland to the fjords. At the now abandoned village of Omgang, several witches were burned during the 1600s.
Whale hunting:
As early as the 1500s, the Dutch hunted whales off the coast of Finnmark. However, whale hunting did not really take off as a major industry until the late 1800s when Svend Foyn introduced a more industrialised form of whale hunting. Towards the end of the 1890s, however, most whale stocks were so decimated that the catches fell sharply.
The Mehamn Rebellion:
After 1900, the important spring cod fishing season failed in Finnmark for several years in a row. The fishermen believed there was a link between whale hunting and the lack of fish. When there were no whales around, the capelin and cod were not chased towards the shore. On Whit Sunday 1903, the situation came to a head in Mehamn, and the whale hunting station there was razed to the ground and soldiers were summoned from Vardø to clear up. The rebellion had political consequences too: The whale became a protected species in Northern Norway and the first parliamentary representatives from the Norwegian Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) were voted in the following autumn.
Outdoors:
The pier is part of a wider setting. Outside the museum is a large pollack drying rack. This rack also dates from after the war, but the production of dried fish is an ancient process along the coast of Finnmark. A Nordland motor boat is also on display outside. This boat was saved from the destruction that took place in 1944. Gamvik was formerly a port of call for the Hurtigruten, but it did not have a pier. The service boat "Gamvik" therefore sailed out to the open sea to meet the Hurtigruten and loaded and unloaded passengers and cargo there. In 1990, the Hurtigruten stopped calling here and the service boat is now on dry land.
